1st, if anyone has any thoughts, comments or ideas, please post.
Game play summary.
when game starts the novice switch gets you 8 ships and expert get 4 ships to start. also added a secret cheat that gets you 255 ships (currently hold the joystick back @ start).
the 1st wave is the swoopers. by level 3 you are having to hit each swooper 3 times. they also speed up the longer you take to clear the wave. this is like the TI99 version.
what I added is a timer at bottom right that shortens the time to clear the wave. this is to replace the 'over heating' gun from the TI99 version which I always hated. (I mean, the idea of a shooter game is to shoot, lots and often 
next level is blaster with 2 beam shot. there are 3 blasters to get through. and by level 3 you will be having to hit each 3 times to clear. also added a timer.
the refueling tunnel is next. navigate through a tunnel to get to the end and get your points. by level 3 you are navigating 3 tunnels. past level 5 your ship starts speeding up.
next wave is backwards swoopers. much like 1st swoopers except they come in behind you.
the next blaster is like the other blaster except it fires a plasma ball and starting level 3 the last color change of the enemy ship makes it invisible.
finally is the asteroid field. CURRENTLY you can not fire on the asteroids only avoid them. the time in the asteroid field gets longer and longer.
after a game level is complete you get an extra ship.
will be looking for beta testers soon. volunteers are welcome.